Insurance rate-crash for long-term vehicle owners

An insurance broker is offering big discounts on motor insurance for those who have owned their vehicle for at least four years, after seeing a dramatic fall in claims.Adrian Flux Insurance Services has pledged to beat virtually any quote until the end of August 2012 where the driver has owned the vehicle for at least four years and has had no fault claims in the past 12 months. It’s further good news for hard-pressed motorists after research showed that car insurance premiums have fallen for the second consecutive quarter. The average cost of car insurance between April and June was £797, compared with £816 in the first three months of the year – a decline of 2.3 per cent. And Gerry Bucke, general manager at Adrian Flux, said the summer sale was the result of a steep decline in claims from motorists who keep hold of their car, van or motorhome. “We’ve noticed a massive drop, so these are clearly the type of people who deserve to be paying less for their insurance – and the motorists we want on our books,” he added. “Our records show that a lot of accidents happen within the first year of owning a vehicle, and they fall away significantly after the fourth year. “It’s partly down to experience, and it probably says a lot about the more steady type of person who doesn’t chop and change their vehicle all the time.” The number of fraudulent claims, a major contributor to the rise in premiums in recent years, is also virtually non existent among longer-term owners. “All of these factors combined have enabled us to reduce our rates this summer for this group, subject to our usual underwriting criteria,” added Mr Bucke.